Greig Leach

The climbs of the Tour de France are always lined with enthusiastic fans of the sport, many whom have camped for days to see these titans of the sport ride by. Some have had a bit to drink and will be a little too eager to shout for (or against) the riders as they attempt to part the sea of fans, flags and banners. Each group of riders will be accompanied by one of the Gendarmes that support and secure the race, using their motorcycles as a rather effective battering ram. The officer has to stay far enough ahead of the riders so as not to offer a slipstream to shelter the riders, but not so far ahead that the crowd will simply close in back around his motorcycle to get in the face of the struggling riders. Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Yury Trofimov (Katusha) and Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp-Endura) are the third group to squeeze through the throngs of fans as they approach the summit of one of the monster of the Tour.